WMC Interview: James Zabiela

WMC Interview: James Zabiela

28 March, 2008 | 2.51PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Miami WMC 2008
• Written by: Terry Church

Beatportal has just finished speaking to British DJ whiz James Zabiela in Miami, South Beach.

It’s amazing that we managed to extract any information from him, because in the five minutes that we spoke, girls screamed his name, dudes begged for autographs and photos aplenty were requested.

In the post-superstar DJ dance music world, James Zabiela is one of the biggest celebrities. But what’s endearing and honest about JZ, is that he’s a nerd at heart and nothing he does is contrived. 

He loves gadgets more than anything else.

“I was browsing this technology magazine the other day and saw the new Korg Kaossilator and thought ‘I want one!’,” James says.

“So I called up Korg and asked them for one.”

In James Zabiela’s DJ set up he now has two CDJs, a Pioneer EFX-1000 for effects, a Pioneer DJM-800 mixer, a laptop running Ableton Live and, now he’s added a Korg Kaossilator.

Watching James Zabiela set up his gear before he begins spinning is mind boggling enough.

There are wires everywhere. It’s like somebody shot up the cockpit of the Starship Enterprise and it spewed forth its analogue and digital guts.

“The Kaossilator is just for a bit of fun really,” explains James.

“It’s like a synthesizer and you can play musical notes on it, which is great.”

But isn’t playing notes in the middle of a track a recipe for a key clash disaster?

“Yeah getting the Kaossilator to play notes in tune is a bit of a problem, so I normally only use it in techno tracks that aren’t too musical,” he says.

What does James use the laptop running Ableton for?

“That’s MIDI’d up to the DJM-800,” James says.

“I use it for effects too.”

Effects, effects, effects. Welcome to James Zabiela’s version of reality where no sound is sacred.

Anyone who’s seen James Zabiela DJ live knows that he’s a fiddler.

He abuses sounds and music to such a perverted extent, that he should be put on the sound offenders register.

He finds it impossible to let a record play unattended without adding his own sound effects and technology funk to the mix.

But whilst some DJs overdo the effects and it gets annoying, James is so good at it that the tracks actually sound better once they’ve gone through the Zabiela-nator.

You would think then, that James constantly listens to electronic music, in order to seek out loops to abuse and sounds to twist.

Not so. Instead his iPod is filled with Morrissey (like James’ favourite comedian Russell Brand, he’s a big fan), Madonna and Duran Duran.

And Zabiela is so embarrassed of his uncool music collection that he even refuses to let Beatportal browse through his iPod unattended.

“You might see something really terrible in there,” he says, grinning in his shy, contemplative way.

“Oh my God! James, James, please take a photo with me,” a girl shouts at him, totally oblivious to the fact we were having a conversation.

And then in an instant James Zabiela is gone, wrapped up in a crowd of admirers, the reluctant hero of dance music.

• (0) Comments
• (1620) Views
• Check out James Zabiela on Beatport